Interns
by GeminiMercedes
Summary: Mai is a proficient worker at Kaiba Corp. Joey is the new intern that she is in charge of. And did I mention, they first met when he spilled coke all over her new outfit? EVENTUAL POLARSHIPPING/ Kind of AU, sorta. R&R!
1. Kaiba's Announcement

Polarshipping

"Did you hear?" Vivian Wong whispered to her blonde co-worker, Mai Valentine. Said co-worker turned to her with a look of confusion and annoyance as she pulled out her earphones and turned off her music so she could listen to her friend.

"Hear what, exactly?" Mai tried to sound as interested as possible, but it wasn't working out too well.

"Seto Kaiba's coming to our floor today, something about some announcement that all Kaiba Corp employees have to hear." Vivian replied with a smirk. Mai's eyes widened.

"Kaiba? But he never comes to any floor lower than the 45th."

"I know right? That's why the news is so exciting and _mysterious_." Vivian said dramatically.

Mai rolled her eyes at her co-workers antics before turning back to her computer.

"As long as it has nothing to do with salary cuts, I could care less."

The Kaiba Corporation was a skyscraper building sitting in the middle of Domino City. The company not only ran a plethora of businesses in the city, but it also had control over many federal and municipal assets in Domino. What was once a company build on the faculties of Duel Monsters was now an international business that ran most of Domino City.

Mai Valentine had been lucky enough to capture a job at the immaculate company, all thanks to her to her length resume, which contained all of her job experience from around the world. She worked on the 35th floor of Kaiba Corp (There were 51 Floors to be exact) and her floor specialized in telecommunications with companies around the world.

The job wasn't exactly the most interesting thing she could have been doing, but the pay was great and she was able to live in a renovated condo by the beach and drive a white Porche' convertible.

"So what time is he coming?" Mai hissed in Vivian's direction. Vivian had already disappeared back into her cubicle but appeared the second Mai asked her question.

"In like, half an hour! This is so nerve-racking!" Mai had to agree. She had only been graced with Seto Kaiba's presence one time during a company dinner, and that been merely a handshake and some formalities.

"Relax; I doubt it's anything serious. If it was concerning jobs or anything, I think he would have just faxed that to us. No need to broadcast it in front of the floor." She tried to sound optimistic, but she barely knew Kaiba enough to know what the man would and _wouldn't _do.

**xxx**

"Attention, all employees." Everyone working on the 35th floor froze. There was only one voice like that, and they all knew who it belonged to.

"Would everyone please stand? I have an important announcement and other meetings to spend my time on."

The employees stood swiftly and Mai and Vivian sent each other a confused look.

Seto Kaiba stood tall and handsome. His dark brown hair was short and cut just over his eyes and his white trench coat lay open and fanned out, showing his black dress shirt and dress pants underneath. Mai noticed his shiny leather shoes, which looked extremely expensive and she couldn't help notice the two bodyguards he had standing behind him.

"Now, I'll make this short and sweet. There have been a couple of changes made to the Kaiba Corporation and I hope everyone takes to them rather_ quickly_. And no, this has nothing to do with your salaries." Kaiba stated, rolling his eyes as he heard people sigh in relief.

"My brother Mokuba, thought it would be a great idea to employ younger employees in order for the Kaiba Corp to have a more…_diverse_ range of employees." He continued. Mai held back a smirk when she saw how much it was hurting him to say 'diverse'.

"So I've decide to start an intern program. The program is for younger workers who can gain experience here if they plan to work in international business."

"All the interns have already been chosen and trust me, they've been screened." Kaiba looked clearly annoyed with having to recite this speech, and Mai was equally annoyed that she was standing in her new black high heels, which were beginning to make her feet throb in pain.

"They will work on every 5th floor, which is why I'm here today to fill all of you in. It is your responsibility to educate and assist these young interns as they try to grow and understand the politics and backgrounds of international business. Do I make myself clear?" The employees nodded and Kaiba smirked.

"That'll be all; you can resume your work." He finished, with a turn on his heel as he walked out with his bodyguards. The employees all breathed a collective sigh of relief before sitting back in their seats, Mai especially.

"Can you believe this?" Vivian asked the blonde woman indignantly. Mai nodded.

"I know right? Having us stand all that time has got my feet swelling up!"

"Not that, smart one! I mean the interns. Who wants to be working with some ignorant, immature teenagers all day?" Mai looked up at her and nodded.

"You're right, and knowing Kaiba, this process could go on for a while. Is it too late to request a floor change?" The blonde asked. Vivian sighed and nodded.

"Those were due last week, probably because of this change."

Both women sighed before turning back to their desks to get back to work.

**xxx**

"Are you sure about this, Yugi?" Joey Wheeler asked his best friend through his cell phone.

"Yeah Joey, just take it. My grandpa planned this last minute trip to Egypt and I want to go. That membership card will get you into the internship and I'm pretty sure you'll be able to use your real name." The spiky haired teen replied through the phone.

Joey Wheeler's best friend, Yugi Mouto had signed up for the Kaiba Corp internship a month ago, and had received an invitation to enter the internship in the summer months.

"But Yugi, they only let in the top high school students, and my marks haven't been that great."

"But it's an amazing opportunity Joey and it'll go to waste if you don't take it. And I think Tea also got in, so it won't be like you won't have any friends there." Yugi was making some good points, and Joey had to admit, he _wanted_ to go.

International business meant he would be able to travel and do business overseas, and that meant some good money. Plus, any way he could get away from his alcoholic father was good enough, even if it was only for the summer days.

"Okay, thanks Yugi. Have a great time in Egypt." The blonde said with a smile.

"Alright, thanks Joey. Good luck at Kaiba Corp! Bye." Yugi replied. Joey hung up the phone and stared at his bedroom wall.

"I hope I'm ready for this…" He said to himself.

Suddenly he heard the front door slam shut, which made his blood run cold.

"Joey, where are you, you bastard son?!" His father bellowed in an alcoholic rage.

"Oh no, not again…" Joey thought to himself.

**xxx**

_24 years old, and I still don't have a boyfriend. Not that I need a man for anything, but the condo sure gets lonely… _Mai thought to herself as she sat at her office desk, chewing on a fruit to go.

"Here you go, Ms. Valentine, good luck!" Mai felt her bubble burst as she turned to see a black haired teen drop some papers on her desk. She recognized the teen immediately as Mokuba Kaiba, Seto Kaiba's brother.

"What is this, Mr. Kaiba?" It was still weird to call a kid 'Mr." but this kid could get her fired so she made sure to show respect. Crossing her legs and spinning around in her chair, she turned to face the young Kaiba brother, coffee in hand as she waited on his explanation.

"My brother thinks you're the best person on floor 35 to lead the internship program for your floor." Mai almost dropped her hot coffee.

"W-wait, why me?" She could have sworn she heard Vivian snicker in the next cubicle but waved that thought away.

"Your work is not only impeccable, but we believe that your youthful appearance would make the new interns feel comfortable." The young boy explained. Mai felt her left eye twitch when he said 'appearance'. She _was_ young, well as young as 24 years old was anyways.

She sighed and took a sip from her cup.

"Okay, so what do I have to do?" She tried not to sound monotone, but failed miserably. Mokuba didn't seem to mind though.

"Just two interns for this floor: Tea Gardner, and a last minute addition Joey Wheeler." He explained, handing her papers containing bios of the two teenagers. Mai noted that the bios did not contain portrait photos.

"How am I supposed to know who they are? These papers don't contain any photographic identification."

"Don't worry about that, on their first day they'll be sent to your desk. So be here." Mokuba replied. Mai could have sworn she heard a bit of Seto Kaiba in the end of his sentence.

"Thank you Mr. Kaiba, I'll do my very best." She could swear she could still hear Vivian laughing. Mokuba nodded and began to walk away when he stopped himself and walked back.

"By the way, my brother wanted you to know that your salary will be getting a significant boost for taking on this responsibility, we expect the best Ms. Valentine." Mokuba said with a wave as he left.

Mai's jaw dropped as she watched Mokuba walk away.

_A raise? And a significant raise at that… _She thought to herself. She got up and walked over to Vivian's cubicle, the co-worker had all but stopped laughing by the end of that conversation. Mai smirked as she saw her friend's dropped jaw.

"I heard you laughing, you know. Well guess what? I'll be laughing all the way to the bank." The blonde said with a laugh.

**xxx**

**So yes, I'm already working on another Polarshipping story. I got this idea when I was at my friend's mom's workplace. Anyways, I hope you like how it's starting. This story is going to go a lot slower in terms of polarshipping. I feel like when you rush any couple realizing each others feelings, the rest of the story ends up boring. I have some good ideas for this story, so I'm excited for how it goes.**

**-GeminiMercedes-**

**P.S - To the "Guest" who reviewed my story and found I uploaded the wrong thing...thank you! I never would have noticed, so thank you for pointing that out to me :)**


	2. Coke Covered Corset

Interns Chapter 2

Polarshippinng

**xxx**

It had been a couple of days since Kaiba's announcement and Mai had had some time to think it over.

Helping the new interns would definitely be a good thing for her on a financial stand point but on the other hand, she knew her social skills weren't the best. Vivian was really the only employee she talked to on her floor, she didn't really speak to anyone else.

Mai was a loner, and she liked it better that way anyways. But now she would have to be social with these new interns since she would be working with them every day.

She groaned as she sat back in her office chair, fiddling with the mouse and not really paying attention to her monitor.

"What's wrong Mai? Still thinking of the huge pay cheque you'll be cashing in for those interns?" Vivian asked sarcastically, walking over to the blonde's cubicle.

"No, it's not that." Mai said with a sigh, dismissing her friend's sarcasm. Vivian's eyes widened and her facial expression turned to one of concern.

"What's wrong then, Mai?" She asked with genuine concern.

"You know I'm not that social, and I really hate dealing with kids." Mai admitted, resting her head in her hands."

"Wait, that's what you're worried about?" Vivian said with a laugh. Mai turned to her and looked at like she was crazy.

"Uh, yes I am. You know me Viv, you know this isn't going to be easy for me." She replied, turning back to her monitor and sighing loudly.

"Let's go for lunch." Vivian said with a smile. It was more of a command then a question.

**xxx**

Joey Wheeler and his best friend Tea' Gardner had stopped by the mall to hang out a couple of days before the internship program at Kaiba Corp started.

"Can't lie, I'm really excited for this internship." Joey said to his friend Tea'. His voice was full of excitement. Tea' Gardner giggled and rolled her eyes.

"You should have just applied for it like the rest of us a month ago!"

"I know, but I really didn't think I had a chance like you guys." Joey admitted, sighing and looking at the floor. Tea placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it lightly.

"Hey, the point is, you're in now. We're gonna learn so much, you better pay attention Joey!" Joey looked up at her and smirked.

"I'm totally gonna learn! I might even beat Kaiba in a duel." He replied triumphantly.

"Okay, now you're getting ahead of yourself." Tea' said exasperatingly.

"Whatever, let's go get lunch, I'm starving."

"Boys…"

**xxx**

"Okay, now let's go find somewhere to sit." Joey said as he looked around the mall food court. He had purchased a cheeseburger with fries and a coke, and Tea' had purchased a grilled chicken salad with sparkling water.

"Good idea, except for the fact that this place is packed…" She replied. Practically every table in the food court was occupied. The two began searching for a place to sit when they saw an empty spot across the food court.

"There, Tea'! C'mon, before we lose it!" Joey said, taking to a sprint, his food still in his hands.

"Joey, wait! You're gonna drop your food!" Tea' yelled after him. Suddenly she saw a blonde woman and her friend walking in the way of Joey's sprint.

"Joey, slow down! Look out!" She tried to get her friend's attention, but it was too late.

Joey collided with a person who had been walking in the way of him getting to the empty spot in the food court. And to make matters worse, his drink had decided to attach itself to the individual he had crashed into.

"Ahhh!" The individual screamed. Joey fell to the ground and got up quickly, rubbing the back of his head.

"S-sorry about that!" He said, looking away out of embarrassment. He could see Tea' running towards him with a shocked and angry expression on her face.

"We're so sorry! He never pays attention, sorry about this!" The brunette said quickly, glaring at Joey and crossing her arms. They heard a moan, and they turned to see who Joey had actually bumped into.

A beautiful blonde woman, wearing a purple jacket with a purple skirt and a white corset underneath, was now sitting on the ground, her _white_ corset covered in coke. Her friend gasped in shock and tried to help her up.

"I'm okay, Vivian." The woman replied as she started to get up. The blonde woman's friend, a tall dark haired woman with her hair tied up in two buns, turned to the two teens and raised her fist angrily.

"Hey, what is wrong with you guys? And _why_ were you running? Didn't you learn in elementary it's not okay to run like that?" She yelled angrily. The blonde woman was now standing up glaring holes through Joey's head.

"Listen kid, you're lucky I don't call mall security right now. My outfit is totally ruined." The blonde woman said, looking herself over.

"I'm so sorry, Miss, I wasn't paying attention. Um, here, take these." He awkwardly tried to hand her some napkins, since the upper part of her corset was the wettest. The woman, realizing why he was handing those to her, growled and turned on her heel.

"Let's go Viv, I can't believe this…" She said angrily, walking away with her friend following behind, turning around only once to glare at the two teens. When they were gone, Joey sighed and picked up his wrapped hamburger.

"I never do anything right…" He muttered to himself, not quiet enough for Tea' not to hear. The brunette had been about to scold Joey for causing the accident, but instead placed an arm around his shoulder and smiled.

"Hey, it was an accident, let me go get you some fries and another coke alright?" She said cheerfully. Joey turned to his friend and gave her a small smile.

"Thanks Tea'."

**xxx**

"Do you see my outfit? I can't go back to work now!" Mai moaned as Vivian took her to her car.

"Mai, relax, when we get back to work we can stop by my car. I have a spare dress shirt in the back for instances just like these." Vivian explained.

"Even so, I could have tackled that stupid teenager. See, _this_ is why I don't want to work with the new interns." Mai replied angrily, pointing at her coke covered corset.

"Yeah, those teens were pretty stupid. I mean, who runs through a mall like that? But I have to admit, the guy who bumped into you was pretty cute." Vivian said, going into a daydream as they got into Mai's car and began to drive off. Mai turned to Vivian and raised an eyebrow.

"My outfit is ruined, and you think the guy who did it was pretty cute? Whose side are you on?" Vivian waved her hand in Mai's face and turned to look out the window.

"Oh please, don't act like you weren't checking him out too."

"I was too busy recovering from getting _attacked _in the middle of the mall food court." Mai replied through clenched teeth.

"You're exaggerating."

"You know what Viv…" Mai started; ready to lay into her clearly clueless friend.

"Don't forget, spare dress shirt." Vivian warned. Mai's jaw dropped.

And that was the end of that.

**xxx**

**New chapter done! What do you guys think? Poor Mai, having to get her outfit ruined, but most love stories start with similar situations. And what do you think of Vivian? I think I'm going to have fun writing about her as Mai's close friend. Anyways, Read and Review!**

**-GeminiMercedes-**


	3. Oh HELL no

Interns Chapter 3

Polarshipping

The day after the incident, Mai received an email from Seto Kaiba. He wanted to inform her that the new interns would be coming in that day just before lunch. He expected her to treat them well, and do everything in her ability to teach them as much as she could.

Mai sighed as she finished reading the email. She closed the web page and groaned loudly.

"What happened now?" Vivian asked as she peered over her cubicle to look at her blonde haired friend.

"Those interns are coming in today." Mai explained, turning to her co-worker and close friend.

"Awesome, aren't you excited?" Vivian teased, laughing as she got up to walk into Mai's cubicle.

"Actually, I'm feeling nauseous and annoyed."

"Oh Mai, quit the dramatics, it's going to be fun and I'll be here to help." Vivian said reassuringly, placing a hand on Mai's shoulder. Mai smiled at her friend and placed her hand over hers.

"Thanks Viv." She said with a genuine smile.

"Hey Mai, sorry to interrupt." The two women turned to see Mokuba Kaiba standing in front of Mai's cubicle smiling widely.

"Hello Mr. Kaiba, what can I do for you?" Mai greeted professionally.

"I'm guessing you got my brother's letter. Well, security cams show that the interns just arrived in the front lobby. I thought you would want to know beforehand." Mokuba explained. Mai felt her heart drop.

"Oh o-okay, I guess I'll go wait at the elevator for them." She replied half-heartedly.

"No, you won't have to do that. They'll be sent to your cubicle." Mokuba explained with a smile. Mai bit back another sigh.

"Anyways, I have to go to the other floors and inform them about the interns. I like doing it personally, sending messages over the intercom gets boring." He said with a giggle, before walking away from Mai's cubicle.

Mai watched his retreating figure and shook her head.

"Mai, you're being dramatic, just get back to work. If they're filling up the elevators, they probably won't be here for a while." Vivian said before returning to her own desk, pausing momentarily to send Mai a thumbs up gesture.

Mai pondered what Vivian had just said. It was true that the interns would probably take a while to show up and she knew she had files to complete.

She spun around in her office chair and faced her computer monitor. Shoving her earphones in and pressing play on her mp3 gave her temporary relief from the situation at hand.

**xxx**

"So this is the 35th floor huh?" Joey asked as he stepped out of the elevator with Tea'. The floor was set up like a classic accountant's office except for the fact that every wall and door carried the Kaiba Corp Logo and almost all of the office appliances had a custom glass finish.

"It sure is beautiful huh?" Tea' exclaimed, looking around in awe. Joey nodded in agreement.

"It sure is, I think I'm gonna like it here. So who are we looking for?" The blonde replied excitedly. Tea' looked down at the sheet one of the Kaiba Corp employees had given her in the lobby.

"Okay…35th floor…so we're looking for a 'Mai Valentine'." She replied, looking up confidently. Joey raised a fist and grinned at her triumphantly.

"Alright let's go fin- ouch! Tea' was what that for?" Joey asked as he suddenly felt two fingers grab his ear and squeeze tightly.

"No running this time! Did you forget about that food court incident so quickly?" Tea asked angrily. Joey sighed and moved out of her grasp.

"Look, I said I was sorry. And that was just a big accident." He replied, rubbing his ear indignantly and looking around to see if anyone was watching. Tea' sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Let's just find Ms. Valentine."

**xxx**

"Getting some work done, Mai?" Vivian asked peering over the blonde's cubicle. Mai turned to her and nodded.

"Yup, I guess that extra strong coffee I got from the lunchroom helped." She said with a smile.

"You could have asked me if I wanted one." Vivian replied with a pout, sticking out her tongue. Mai smirked.

"You know, I really would have _loved_ to, but I didn't want to interrupt your skype conversation with your boyfriend. You know these computers are checked by the hour, right?" She said trying to hold in a laugh. Vivian's face went a bright red.

" .nothing." She said through clenched teeth, which only increased the volume of Mai's laughter.

"Excuse me, are you…Mai Valentine?"

The two employees turned to the source of the voice, already irritated that their conversation had been interrupted for the _second_ time today.

Mai turned to see two young teenagers. The girl had brown hair and was wearing a black top with a gold skirt. Mai vaguely remembered her, but from where, she couldn't grasp. The boy was tall and blonde, wearing a white top with a blue jacket and matching blue pants. Mai knew _exactly_ who he was.

"OH HELL NO!"

**xxx**

**Hope you guys like this one. Kind of short, but I wanted to keep up some suspense. I don't know when polarshipping is going to really kick in, but I'll try to make it as soon as possible! R&R**

**-GeminiMercedes-**


	4. A Friend In Need

Interns Chapter 4

Polarshipping

**xxx**

Mai exited the washroom stall and headed for the sink. The Kaiba Corp washrooms were elegant, to say the least. Contemporary sink and new faucet finishes, expensive black and blue tiling, and a lounge area at the entrance summed up how amazing the facilities were.

Mai stared at herself in the mirror as she washed her hands.

"I can't believe those two have to work on my floor! How many floors are there in this building and they just had to come to mine." She growled. She heard the tapping of heels and turned to see Vivian stroll in, looking around. As soon as she saw her blonde co-worker, she smirked.

"Oh there you are, have fun scaring the living day lights out of those poor interns?" She asked with a laugh. Mai rolled her eyes.

"Oh please, don't act like you don't remember them too." She replied. Vivian placed a finger on her chin and then nodded slowly.

"I vaguely remember a large cup of coke coming in contact with that white corset you had on the other day." She teased.

"It's not funny Vivian, shut up." Mai spat back, sending her friend a death glare as she dried her hands with a towel and headed for the entrance.

"Look, I've taken that girl off your hands. I have her organizing some stuff in my cubicle. All you have to do is entertain the cutie." Vivian said, going from teasing to serious and then back to teasing.

Mai scoffed as she walked past her friend, but as she reached for the door she turned around and gave Vivian a smile.

"Thanks Viv." She said softly before leaving.

After the door slammed shut, Vivian walked over to the mirror and checked her make-up.

"She hasn't found love in a long time…" She said softly.

"Hopefully this guy will do the trick."

**xxx**

It had all happened so fast but Joey vaguely remembered the blonde woman he had accidently thrown a drink on, screaming in rage at him and storming past him.

Tea' was shaking her head at him like it was his fault but how would he have known the same woman who he had spilled coke on worked at Kaiba Corp?

"Umm…" He was at a loss for words as he stared at the woman's friend, the one with the two symmetrical buns on either side of her head, the same one who had reprimanded him and Tea' when he had bumped into her friend.

The woman sighed and crossed her arms, before giving the two teens warm smiles.

"So, are you guys going to introduce yourself or what?" She said.

"I'm Tea' Gardner"

"I'm Joey Wheeler." He gulped.

"I'm Vivian Wong. That woman who just stormed off is Mai Valentine. I'm guessing you guys are the new interns if that's who you're looking for." She said with a raised eyebrow.

The two teens nodded, and Joey noticed that Tea' had taken a couple steps forward so that she was now standing in front of him.

"We're really sorry about the other day; we won't be any trouble here, promise." It came off as begging to Joey even though he knew that wasn't where Tea' was going with it. He clenched his teeth and glared at the floor.

"I'm sure you won't be." The woman replied confidently.

"Now that we're through with the introductions, blondie, do me a favour and warm Mai's seat until she gets back." Vivian continued, pointing at Joey and then pointing to Mai's office chair. When he looked at it as if it was on fire, Vivian stifled a laugh and shook her head.

"Go on, Mai doesn't bite…too much." She finished with a smirk, rolling her eyes when Joey looked at her like she was crazy.

"And you, Tea' was it? I have some office supplies that just got shipped in yesterday and I need you to organize all of it. Come with me." Vivian's voice was full of command and authority, and it seemed to be the opposite of how she had just been a minute ago.

"O-oh okay, bye Joey!" Tea' said with a worried expression before following Vivian.

"Don't worry; all four of us will go to lunch together. You'll see him soon." Vivian said reassuringly, as they walked off.

**xxx**

_Oh man, how do I get myself into these crazy situations? _Joey thought to himself.

_But even with this crazy woman as my mentor, it's still an upgrade from my home life._

He felt his arm throb as his thoughts wandered, forcing him to remember the beating he had received from his father two nights ago.

_I just gotta get away from him. _He tried for the fourth time that week to think of a plan that would help him get away from his father, but again, his mind went blank. He even failed to notice a much calmer blonde woman walking over to him.

"Hey, get up. You aren't working at my desk today." He looked up to see the same blonde woman who had yelled at him twice that week, staring at him with her arms crossed and her lips pursed together.

"A-alright, I guess I'll just follow you then." He replied quietly, getting up from her chair swiftly.

"You catch on quick." She said coldly as she turned on her heel and began to walk across the office.

_What did I get myself into? _He thought to himself as he followed her.

**xxx**

Tea' whipped a bead of sweat off of her forehead and re-inspected the office desk she had just spent the last hour cleaning.

Vivian, or Miss Wong, really needed some organizational skills; the place had been a mess.

After she had sorted out the new office supplies, Vivian had asked her to clean and reorganize her desk.

"How does she even get to what she needs?" Tea' thought aloud, shaking her head. She sat down in Vivian's office chair and breathed a sigh a relief.

"I just need a moment to relax."

Suddenly her phone started ringing and she scrambled to grab it from her pocket so that the other employees didn't notice it was her.

"H-hello, who is this?" She hissed into the phone.

"S-sorry Tea' did I catch you at a bad time?" Tea' was surprised to hear Duke Devlin voice.

"Sort of, but I have a minute. What's up?"

"Well Tristan and I are having this party this weekend, and I wanted to invite everyone over. I've been calling Joey but he isn't picking up his phone." Tea' rolled her eyes.

"Not surprised, that Valentine lady hates his guts." She replied, looking around the cubicle to see if either Joey or Mai were there. When she didn't see neither of the blondes she sat back in her chair and resumed her conversation with Duke.

"Who are you talking about?" He replied, causing her to almost slap herself in the forehead.

"Never mind, I'll let Joey know. Say, you and Tristan have been getting along pretty well lately. I know Serenity is in summer school so what are you guys up to?" She heard a cough and someone clearing their throat on the other line.

"N-nothing! Tea' I have to go, hope to see you and Joey at the party!" And with that, the line went dead. Tea stared at her phone with a confused look on her face.

"Those two are really strange…" She said to herself as she pressed the "end call" button on her phone.

She turned in the chair and came face to face with Miss Wong.

It took everything in Tea not to scream in surprise. Vivian looked down at her with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, you scared me."

"Sorry about that, you did a great job on my desk." The seriousness never left Vivian's tone.

"It's okay and thanks." Tea replied sheepishly. An awkward silence fell over the two as Tea' contemplated getting out of the seat.

"I'll just get up then…" The brunette started, shifting her weight so she could stand up.

"No, that's alright. I just came to check your progress. Give yourself a break, since I really can't think of anything else for you to do." Vivian replied, turning around and heading for the 35th floor cafeteria.

"Do you want anything?" She stopped briefly and turned sideways to look back at Tea'.

Tea', surprised at the kind gesture from such a serious woman, just held up her hands and shook her head.

"No thanks, nothing for me!" She replied. Vivian nodded and then turned around to fully look at Tea'.

"I'll get you a _coke_." She said with a smirk, turning around and continuing her walk to the cafeteria.

Tea' was at a loss for words.

**xxx**

**So what did you guys think? I added in some more back-story on Joey, since I'm trying to show you how much he needs this internship. Vivian has double personality type of thing going on, which I thought would make sense for her character. There's going to be a lot more Mai and Joey stuff in the next chapter, in this one I just wanted to establish the environment and the mood that everyone is going to be working in. Anyways, R&R as usual!**

**-GeminiMercedes-**


	5. Keeping up with Miss Valentine

Interns Chapter 5

Polarshipping and maybe a little bit of Chaseshipping

**xxx**

"So what does this have to do with international business?" Joey asked with a confused expression on his face.

He had followed Mai to the stationary section of the 35th floor. Printers, scanners, paper cutters, pencils, and stationary kits, lined the walls of the area. There was also a door in between the printers and scanners and when Mai opened it, the blonde teen's eyes widened at the sit of heaps on heaps of paper in all different colours.

"Simple, these papers are what we use for printing and some of them have been shipped from around the world." Mai replied nonchalantly, flicking her index finger at different paper stacks.

"And what am I supposed to do with all of them?" Joey asked nervously, turning to his mentor with the same confused face from before.

Mai scoffed and turned to walk out of the room.

"Simple, organize them."

"_Organize_ them? I'll have you know, I worked really hard to get into this internship and I expected _real_ work for real business situations." He replied angrily, resisting the urge to raise a fist in her direction.

Mai turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh _really_, well guess what kid? We all have to start somewhere. For example, I didn't start on the 35th floor of the most prominent business in Domino over night." Mai started.

She wasn't finished though. She crossed her arms and proceeded to glare at Joey.

"So just take what I give you, and trust me the work will get more complex and difficult as we go. And don't think I'll help you get a step up from everyone else when you spilled coke all over my designer corset the other day." She finished.

Joey's eyes widened.

"Look, I know you're still upset about that but I promise it was an accident. I'm sorry, I really didn't mean it." His eyes flicked around the room in order to avoid Mai's glare. If he had been watching he would have noticed her eyes had softened in light of his apology.

"W-whatever, just organize them by colour and size. I'll be back to check on you in half an hour." She muttered, just loud enough for the blonde teen to hear. Joey turned to protest but noticed she had already left the room and had hurried back to her desk.

"I will never understand older women…" He said to himself, turning back to the paper stacks and sighing loudly.

"She's right though, everyone has to start somewhere."

**xxx**

Mai hurried back to her desk and took a seat. Her cup of coffee couldn't reach her lips fast enough.

Had that blonde boy really just apologized to her? And she had planned to hold a grudge over his head for the entire internship.

_Well, that would be kind of stressful… _She thought to herself.

_And he had been so sincere about it too…_

She replayed his apology in her head and a small smile found its way onto her lips.

"Keeping the cutie busy?" Vivian asked with a smirk, walking over and placing a hand on her hip. Mai sent her a quick glare before turning to her monitor.

"It doesn't matter, he'll do what I ask and then I'll just send him home early. I'm really not excited to be working with him." She said, slumping in her seat, and shaking her mouse to turn her computer on.

"You could have fooled me…" Vivian teased. Noticing Mai's disinterest in her teasing, she changed into her serious side and placed a finger on her chin in mock deep thinking.

"Oh, but you can't send him home early. Two reasons; one is that interns have to sign out at the lobby so Kaiba will know you're sending interns home early, and two because I invited Joey and the brunette, Tea, to lunch with us." She finished. Mai turned to her and stared at her like she had lost her mind.

"You did what? Why would you invite them?"

"Mai, you need to get over this petty grudge you're holding against them. They're teenagers." Vivian said with a smirk. Mai turned back to her monitor and muttered something under her lips. Something Vivian realized she probably _didn't_ want to hear.

"Just be ready for 12:30 okay? Thanks." Vivian said as she rolled her eyes and walked away from Mai's desk.

**xxx**

"Alright, I'm almost done!" Joey said triumphantly, as he stacked the final pack of blue paper on top of all the others.

"Hey, Joey you should try to keep it down." Joey almost jumped when he heard a voice behind him.

"Tea, what are you doing creeping up on me like that?!" He asked indignantly, thanking himself he hadn't screamed like a child.

Tea rolled her eyes.

"Anyways, are you almost finished? Mai and Vivian invited us out for lunch. Or at least Vivian did." She said with a nervous smile. Joey gave her a confused look.

"Wait, what? Doesn't Vivian know that Mai hates our – or at least my, guts?" He asked. Tea shrugged and proceeded to leave the paper room.

"Well whatever she's thinking, I told her we would be joining them. So if you're ready, let's go meet up with them." She said with a shake of her head.

"Oh by the way, have you noticed that Duke and Tristan have been hanging around a lot more recently? Do they even call your sis anymore?" Tea continued. Joey shrugged.

"I have no idea, and I wouldn't know because I don't live with Serenity, you'd have to ask her." His voice became hoarse towards the end of his explanation, and Tea decided not to probe any deeper.

"O-oh, well I just thought it was kind of weird. I mean, didn't they hate each other when they used to fight for Serenity's affection? Anyways, let's go." She decided to just end the conversation at that, and the two made their way to their mentor's desks.

**xxx**

"Hello Miss Vivian and Miss Valentine." Tea said with a bow as the two teens reached their mentor's desks. Vivian and Mai turned around in their chairs to look at the two teens.

"Drop the formalities kid, you make me feel old." Vivian said with a smile. She got up from her seat and went to tap Mai on the shoulder.

"Well, we should get going right? C'mon, Miss Valentine." She said with a smirk, tugging at Mai's jacket.

"Okay, okay, let me just grab my I.D" Mai replied, rolling her eyes. The action made Joey's blood boil.

_Don't act like we wanna do this anymore than you do… _He thought to himself.

"You guys ready?" Vivian asked with a smile. Tea turned to Joey, who nodded before looking back at Mai.

"Y-yeah, I guess we are. Let's go." She replied. Vivian nodded and gestured for the two interns to lead the way.

"Let's see if you know your way back to the elevator." She teased. But Tea and Joey took the lead as the four left the office.

**xxx**

Vivian, Mai, Joey and Tea left the Kaiba Corp building and headed for the parking lot.

"My car is just over there." Vivian said while pointing to a car a couple of steps away.

"Oh and by the way, Mai, I want to talk to Tea about some stuff regarding her internship, could you sit in the back with Joey?" Vivian asked loudly, keeping her eyes focussed on her car.

Mai's jaw dropped. _Oh, no she didn't…_

But the blonde woman bit her tongue because she didn't have a _real_ reason as to why she couldn't sit in the back with Joey. Other than the fact that she still wasn't completely over the accident at the mall.

"That's fine." She grumbled, grabbing the handle to the back door behind the front passenger seat.

Joey rolled his eyes as he sat down beside Mai in the back of Vivian's vehicle. He knew Mai still didn't really like him, but she didn't need to act so immature about it.

As Vivian backed out of her spot, she began a conversation with Tea, which ended up over bearing anything else being said.

It left Mai and Joey sitting in the back, looking out the window, and remaining silent.

**xxx**

**So things with Mai and Joey are still not so great, but hopefully a couple more days of this internship will help them see the good in one another. Tell me what you guys think and what you want to see in future chapters! And before someone says another love interest for Mai, I already got that covered. *wink* Anyways, R&R!**

**-GeminiMercedes-**


	6. Sushi Bar

Interns Chapter 6

Polarshipping, slight Chaseshipping

Vivian's car rolled up to a sushi bar that was just ten minutes away from the Kaiba Corp building. The bar was connected to one of the many malls located in Domino City, and it was the same mall where all four individuals had met each other for the first time.

"I love this place, oh by the way, is everyone okay with Sushi?" Vivian asked with a smile. Mai rolled her eyes.

"You could have asked us, I don't know, _before_ you pulled up to a sushi restaurant." She replied angrily. Not that she had a problem with sushi, but it would have been nice to get the memo.

"It's fine with us, right Joey?" Tea responded, looking towards Joey for verification. The blonde nodded and smiled back.

"Yeah, that's cool with me." He replied.

"Next time, we'll go for cheeseburgers or something, that type of food looks like it's more of your taste." Vivian said to the blonde teen, staring at him through her center mirror.

Joey wouldn't have realized it then, but Mai knew that that was Vivian's way of apologizing for taking them to the sushi bar without asking.

"Anyways, are we going to go or what? I'm starving." Mai huffed, unbuckling her seat belt and opening the door.

"She's right, let's go." Vivian said in agreement. The two teens nodded as they got out of the car as well.

xxx

After everyone had ordered and taken their seats, Vivian decided to play Q&A with the new interns.

"So what school do you guys go to?" She asked innocently, resting her head on her hands.

"We go to Domino High." Tea replied. Vivian nodded and then turned her attention to the waiter who had just brought their drinks.

"U-uh, hi, I'm Jaden and I'll be your server for the afternoon." The waiter said with an awkward smile. He looked to be at least 15, and it seemed that this was his first day on the job.

He placed the drinks around the table slowly, as if trying to remember who had ordered what.

"Okay, so I have a coke, iced tea, and two green teas. Um okay so…" He tried his best to remember who had ordered what but ended up letting Vivian and Joey help him out.

"Sorry about that!" Jaden said, after all the drinks were assembled properly.

"It's okay, you new on the job? I come here a lot so I'm used to the staff, but I've never seen you." Vivian asked politely. Jaden's face turned red and he seemed to be extremely embarrassed.

"Y-yeah, this is my first week." He replied, rubbing the back of his head.

"B-but don't worry, I remember your orders perfectly, they'll be here in about 20 minutes." He added in an attempt to sound reassuring. He then headed back to the kitchen.

"He's cute huh?" Vivian said, elbowing Mai in the arm. The blonde woman looked at her friend like she'd lost her mind.

"Viv, I think he's a pre-teen." She replied, shaking her head. Vivian laughed.

"Oh, well whatever. Anyways, back to twenty questions." The serious attitude was back in action.

"So what do you guys like to do for _fun_?" Vivian asked.

"Well, I guess we like to hang out with our friends. Everyone still likes to play duel monsters, so we usually occupy our time with that." Joey replied.

"And a friend of ours owns the dungeon dice monster shop so sometimes we play that too." Tea added in.

Vivian nodded and turned to Mai.

"Mai, do you have a question for these two?" She asked with a slight smirk. Mai rolled her eyes and then turned to the two teens.

"So, Joey, do you usually spill coke on people's outfits for was I just the luck of the draw?" The blonde woman asked, in all seriousness.

The blonde teen, who had actually just taken a sip of the coke he ordered, began choking as he tried to take a breath to reply.

"W-what?" He stuttered, as Tea hit him on the back to try and stop him from coughing.

"Yeah, Mai, what kind of question is that?" Vivian asked, turning to Joey with a look of concern.

"You okay, Joey?" She asked, as the blonde boy began to breathe normally.

"Yeah, just went down the wrong pipe." He replied, a ting of pink coming across his cheeks.

"Well anyways, no more questions from Mai." Vivian said, giving her friend a side glance.

"Okay last question, are either of you two _dating_ anyone?" She asked slyly. Mai turned to her and shook her head.

She was one hundred percent sure Vivian had planned to ask that question. She watched as Tea and Joey's faces went a deep red at the realization of what she was asking.

"Well, I'm not dating anyone." Tea replied, sipping her iced tea and trying to look anywhere else other than at Vivian.

"Y-yeah, me neither!" Joey replied indignantly, waving his hands in front of his face.

"Alright, so Joey you're single?" Vivian asked, bluntly. The blonde teen's eyes widened in embarrassment. Mai squinted her eyes at Vivian in confusion.

_What is she getting at? _She thought to herself.

"Well I…"

Suddenly Jaden came running over with plates juggling in his hands.

"H-here you go!" He barely managed to keep a hold on the plates in his hands, and Mai thought for sure she was going to get something spilled on her for the second time that week.

But Jaden managed to get a hold on the food before it fell all over his first customers and handed each plate, perfectly this time, to Tea, Joey, Mai and Vivian.

"Thank you, cutie!" Vivian said with a wink, which only flustered Jaden even more.

"U-uh, I hope everything is good!" He replied with a bow, before taking off towards the kitchen.

"You're purposely trying to scare that poor boy." Mai said, shaking her head and breaking apart her chopsticks.

"It's all in good fun." Vivian replied before taking a bite out of her sushi.

If she had been paying attention, she would have noticed Joey and Tea looking at her like she was crazy.

**xxx**

"So here are the bills." Jaden said with a small smile as he placed the small pieces of paper in the middle of the table.

"Don't worry about that, I got this one." Vivian replied, pulling out a black card.

"N-no, we can't let you do that!" Tea said trying to grab her bill.

"Yeah, just cause we're teens doesn't mean we don't have any money." Joey stuttered.

_I know it's the right thing to say, but I really don't have that much money. _He thought to himself, wincing as he grabbed in his back jean pocket for his wallet.

Mai noticed and raised an eyebrow. She grabbed her purse and pulled out a pink card.

"Put it on my tab, I got this one." She said dryly. Vivian turned to her and stared at her in surprise.

"Mai, I was about to do that. I dragged you guys out here so it's only right that I pay." She said indignantly. Mai shook her head.

"It's no problem, and the food was good. Plus, I know I didn't start off on the best footing with these two." She replied, glancing over at Tea and Joey.

Before Vivian could counter that argument, Mai had already placed her bank card in Jaden's trembling hands.

"Take another five off of it as a tip." She finished, not even looking at Jaden as she placed her purse back in her bag.

"T-thank you!" Jaden said with a look of surprise, smiling widely as he picked up the rest of the bills.

"I'll be back with your card in a minute." He said cheerfully, heading back to the front desk.

"You didn't have to do that, thank you Mai." Tea said with a genuine smile. Mai gave her a small smile and nodded.

"Well, we are going to be late if we don't get back soon," Vivian said, checking her watch.

"Alright, let's go." Mai declared, grabbing her purse and standing up. She looked towards Joey and noticed that the blonde teen's eyes were downcast and he didn't seem to be paying attention to anyone at the table.

"Let's go, Joey." Tea said, giving Joey a slight push. This seemed to get him out of his funk, but Joey didn't seem as energetic as he got up from his seat.

_What is his problem? _Mai thought to herself.

**xxx**

"Thanks again, hope I see you guys again!" Jaden said cheerfully as the group left the restaurant.

"You too, keep working hard!" Vivian replied with a smile, sending a wave as she followed everyone else out of the restaurant.

"You better not come here everyday just to see him." Mai said with a smirk.

"Whatever, you seem to be in better spirits though." Vivian said with a huff.

"Yeah, yeah, this place _is_ nice. I _would_ come back." Mai admitted, which caused her friend to smile widely and hug her from behind.

"Vivian, would you get off of me?!" Mai said in surprise. Her friend let go and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"I was just caught up in the moment of you _basically _saying I was right." Vivian teased. Mai moved out of her grip and turned to her friend with a look of concern.

"What's up with Joey?" She asked. Vivian shrugged, and turned to look at said teen, who was walking ahead of them with Tea.

"I don't know. I noticed it too though, he seems sad." She replied. Mai shook her head and began to walk faster to catch up with Joey.

"Hey Tea, could you come sit in the front with me again?" Vivian asked quickly, grabbing Tea's arm and sending Mai a knowing glance. Mai nodded as she watched her friend take Tea a couple steps ahead. She turned to Joey and tapped his shoulder.

"Hey kiddo, are you okay?" She asked with genuine concern in her voice.

Joey turned to her for second before looking back at the pavement.

"I'm fine, thanks for paying for lunch." He replied softly. Mai was about to ask another question when she realized they had already reached Vivian's car.

She sighed as she squeezed in the back with Joey and stared out the window once again.

She would have to find another time to question the blonde intern.

**xxx**

**So finally Mai is warming up to the interns. I dropped the apostrophe on Tea's name because on my laptop it has become so difficult to add it properly. What did you guys think of Jaden's cameo in this chapter? I did something similar with my other polarshipping story but it was Alexis as the waitress. Oh, and I promise, this is not a TeaxVivian story, I just think they get along on a work level and someone has to get Joey and Mai alone. **

**Anyways, R&R**

**-GeminiMercedes-**


	7. Regrets & Personal Problems

Interns Chapter 7

Polarshipping, and Chaseshipping

"So what are you going to do about Joey?" Vivian teased, nudging Mai in the arm as the blonde woman typed on her computer. Mai turned and looked at her with an annoyed expression on her face.

"What are you talking about now? They aren't even here yet." She replied dryly. Vivian rolled her eyes.

"Oh please, that's why we're talking about it, _because_ they aren't here yet."

"Seriously, Viv, what are you talking about?"

"Our plan to get you and Joey together!" Mai froze when Vivian said this. The girl loved to tease her and took great pride in doing so, but this was going a bit far. She barely knew the kid and their first encounter hadn't been that great. Yeah, they had had a nice lunch and Mai had paid for everyone but that didn't mean she was going to date an immature, scrawny teenage intern.

"What makes you think I want to date that dweeb?" Mai asked, acting as if she was interested in Vivian's plan.

"Well because you aren't getting any younger, and none of the guys our age are confident enough to ask you out!" Vivian replied, grabbing Joey's intern profile from her desk. She began shuffling through it and hummed to herself.

"That is _not_ true! And what makes you think that kid will have enough confidence to ask me out?" Mai asked indignantly. She couldn't believe she was even entertaining this, even though she knew in the back of her mind that Vivian wasn't completely wrong.

"Well, if he were to ask you out, it wouldn't be out of confidence, it would be to protect his ego." Vivian replied matter-of-factly. Mai raised an eyebrow as she stared at her friend.

"What are you going on about?" She asked, even more confused at this point than at the start of the conversation.

"Don't worry about it, just leave it to me!" Vivian said with a wink, leaving Joey's profile on Mai's desk as she left.

The blonde rolled her eyes and looked over at the folder. She pushed it to the side of her desk so she could get back to work but couldn't help look over at it as she typed.

"It wouldn't hurt to take a look…" She said to herself, grabbing the folder before checking to see if Vivian had seen her do it.

**xxx**

Joey stared in the mirror at the black eye he had received the night before.

_Damn…I can't go to Kaiba Corp today looking like this…they'll definitely know something is up. _He thought to himself.

He brought up his hand to his face and noticed a large gash running down the side of his arm. He remembered getting that one. After his drunken father had punched him in the face, the blonde had fell back and cut his arm open on his dresser.

_Now I gotta go to the hospital to get this cleaned up. Dammit…_

In some part of his mind, he blamed himself for the abuse he received. If only he had the courage to stand up for himself, to fight back. If only he was strong enough to leave. If only he had the courage to call his mother up and ask her if he could come and stay with her.

He shook his head. That last thought was the last thing he _really_ wanted to do. His mother had abandoned him, and taken his sister with her. And while he still kept in contact with his sister, his mother didn't speak to him. Serenity said it was out of guilt, but Joey didn't want to hear it.

He wasn't mad at his mother, in all truth he forgave her. Even with all the scars, bruises, and wounds he received, he was glad it was him and not Serenity. When they were all living together, his mother had taken the abuse for a little while, but when she had reached her breaking point, she packed her bags and stormed out, threatening to call the police all the while.

He smacked himself in the head. It wasn't time to think about those times. Bad memories were better kept in the back of his mind, where they rarely came up to haunt him.

He suddenly realized that he would have to call someone at the Kaiba Corp to tell them that he wasn't coming in today. The secretary at the front desk had said that every intern had to make it their top priority to call in if they were sick or unable to show up.

He searched around for the pair of jeans he had worn yesterday and pulled out a small piece of paper from one of the pockets.

The paper had a number on it, Vivian's phone number to be exact. She had given it to him when they had returned to Kaiba Corp after lunch the previous day.

"_Call me if anything comes up and you can't come in_._"_ She had explained, handing it to him before walking back to her desk.

Joey had placed the paper in his pocket, never thinking he would end up using it the very next day.

But now that the situation had gotten worse, he found himself picking up his cell phone and dialling the number in. He waited as the phone tried to get a connection with Vivian, and after two rings, someone picked up.

"Hello, this is Mai Valentine, 35th floor at Kaiba Corp, how can I help you?" A dry voice said through the phone. Joey's eyes widened.

Vivian had given him, _Mai's_ number?

He quickly shook his head and cleared his throat.

"Uh, hey Mai, it's Joey." He replied, hearing a pause from the other line, followed by a sigh.

"Vivian gave you this number didn't she? The nerve of that girl…"

"Yeah, she kind of did. I didn't know why though, she told me it was her number." He explained. On the other side, Mai was nodding in agreement at her office desk.

"So what's up? Aren't you and Tea supposed to be coming in pretty soon?" She asked nonchalantly.

"Well about that…" He had forgotten to think up a lie before calling her, and now he was pushing his tongue around in his mouth trying to think of an excuse as to why he couldn't show up.

"I fell down the stairs and really hurt my leg. I have to walk a bit to get to the bus stop to get to Kaiba Corp, so I don't think I'll be able to make it in today." He said through clenched teeth, hoping the blonde woman would believe him. Another pause came through the phone, followed by the sound of someone sipping on a drink.

"Well, would you like me to come get you?" Mai replied, Joey rolled his eyes as he noticed her voice didn't sound the least bit welcoming.

"No, I'll be fine; I'll just stay in today and then come in first thing tomorrow." He said sadly, trying to sound as if not coming into work was the worst thing imaginable.

"Alright, well call me if anything. Or actually, let me just give you Vivian's number…"

After passing on Vivian's_ real _number, Mai said goodbye and hung up the phone.

Joey fell back on his bed and let out a sigh of relief. He was off the hook for now, but he knew he would have to visit the hospital before the day was done.

**xxx**

Mai hung up the phone and looked at Joey's file carefully. She didn't believe for a second that the blonde fell down the stairs.

Picking up his file once again, she shuffled through the contents quickly.

"Had to live through his parents divorce, living in a not so nice sector of Domino, and looking at the system; he got into this internship as a fluke." She said to herself; bringing up a manicured finger to her lip and tapping it lightly.

This wasn't adding up, and she was starting to get a strong feeling that Joey hadn't fell down _any_ stairs.

She grabbed her bag and car keys as she logged out of her computer. She left a sticky note saying she would back in twenty minutes for anyone who cared to check on her cubicle.

She was going to find out what was going on with the blonde intern.

**xxx**

Joey sat in his room with an ice pack over his eye.

"I need to stand up to him for once." He knew that wouldn't go over well, but he needed to let his father know that he was sick of the abuse.

"I can't deal with this anymore…" He trailed off, closing his eyes and letting the tears fall down his cheeks.

Here he was with the amazing opportunity of working in Kaiba Corp as an intern but he couldn't even revel in it because of his father. To be honest, he didn't even know if his father _knew_ he was an intern at Kaiba Corp. He shuddered at the thought of what his father would do if he found out.

Not even trying to fight the tears anymore, he held his head up and stared at the ceiling.

"What did I do to deserve this!?" He screamed at no one in particular. His crying turned to soft sobs that he was slightly embarrassed to let out.

But suddenly, he heard a knock on the door. He walked out of his bedroom and stared at the front door. His father worked late and always ate lunch at his workplace, so no one was supposed to be there.

Thinking it was probably the newspaper, or someone trying to sell a product, he ruffled his bangs to try and cover his black eye and he threw on a blue jacket to cover the gash on his forearm. Just in case.

He walked up the door and opened it slowly.

"C-can I help you?" He muttered as he opened the door, inwardly slapping himself for forgetting to wait until he had fully recovered from his sobs.

His eyes widened at the person standing in front of his home.

"M-Mai? What are you doing here?" He asked indignantly, staring the woman up and down as if he couldn't believe it was her standing in front of him. The blonde woman crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Did you get that black eye from falling down the stairs too?" She asked bluntly.

"What are you…" He suddenly remembered the lie he had told her over the phone and tried to compose himself.

"Well, yeah! I mean you know when you fall down the stairs you just hurt all over." He replied pathetically, realizing at this point she probably wouldn't believe him.

And she _definitely_ didn't.

"Is something going on here?" She asked, taking a peek into his house seeing as he hadn't invited her in yet.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" He asked directly, seeing as he knew he _couldn't _let her in. Her eyes widened in surprise to his question and she looked away uncomfortably.

"Listen, we have programs at Kaiba Corp for teenagers going through stuff with their parents. If there is anything going on in your home like…abuse, for example…" She winced as she tried to explain, looking away from Joey the whole time.

"We can find you somewhere else to live, if you would like that." She continued, now turning back to look at him directly.

"And I'm not talking about a foster family or anything, you could get your own place in an area that Kaiba Corp owns, so it would be safe and comfortable, and you would just have to worry about rent." She finished, staring at the blonde and hoping he was getting her message.

And for a second, Joey Wheeler did get Mai Valentine's message. For a second, he wanted to break down and explain everything to her and hope she got him out of that dreary place he was forced to call home. For a second, he wanted her to call the police and get his father locked up. For a second, he really thought she could help.

But he knew that things were a lot more complicated that what she thought they were. And he knew he couldn't leave his father yet, no matter how much he wanted to.

He clenched his teeth and glared at the blonde woman, who looked surprised at his change in attitude.

"No disrespect, Miss Valentine, but there is zero abuse of _any_ sort going on in my home. And I would appreciate it if you didn't stop by here again." He replied angrily, slamming the door shut.

He fell to the floor and began to cry once again, as he realized he had just smothered another chance of escape.

**xxx**

**Wow, so there was a bit of angst in this chapter. I did tell you guys that I would be going deeper into Joey's back story, but even I didn't know how deep it would be till I wrote it. What did you guys think though? Please R&R and let me know!**

**-GeminiMercedes-**


	8. Green Tea

Interns Chapter 8

Polarshipping

"He did _what_?" Vivian asked in surprise as she took another sip of her green tea.

It was a cool Saturday afternoon, and Mai had invited Vivian over to her place to fill her in on what had happened with Joey.

"Yup, he just slammed the door in my face after he tried to act like nothing was going on." She replied, shaking her head as she took a sip of her own green tea.

It was good for the nerves, or at least, that's what Vivian had told her.

"And what did you do?" Vivian asked, leaning forward, clearly intrigued.

"Well what could I do? I don't think he actually walked away from the door so I didn't want to knock. I just left after a couple of minutes." She admitted sadly, staring at the hardwood flooring in her living room.

"Hey, it's okay. That's was a hard situation to be thrown into." Vivian said in a comforting voice.

"But, I must say, that _was_ rather nice of you to go check on him like that. You don't do that for just anyone, especially not some intern who destroyed that white corset of yours." The black haired woman continued with a smirk.

Mai rolled her eyes and turned back to stare at her friend.

"Oh please, Kaiba Corp would have probably called me to find out why he was absent and I wouldn't have had an answer, and that wouldn't have looked good for _me_." She explained.

_Keep telling yourself that and maybe you'll actually believe it. _Mai thought to herself sadly.

"Sure, whatever you say."

Clearly, Vivian wasn't buying it either.

**xxx**

"Tristan, you don't know where Joey is either?" Tea asked in shock as she held the phone receiver to her ear.

"No, I called him yesterday to remind him about the party and he didn't pick up. By the way, are you still coming? Duke's asking me to make sure everyone RSVPs." The spiky haired teen replied.

Tea rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Forget about your stupid party, I'm worried about Joey!" She practically screamed through the phone, quieting down when she realized how angry she had become.

Tristan cleared his throat and sighed.

"I know you are, sorry about that. How about we go check on him at his house?" He replied.

"I think that's a good idea. Let's go today." Tea shot back, in more of a commanding voice than an asking one.

"Alright, that's fine. But um…" When her friend trailed off, Tea's blood began to boil thinking he was going to bring up the party again.

"What is it?" She asked through clenched teeth.

"Where does Joey live?" Tristan asked quietly.

The phone line was silent on both ends.

**xxx **

"So what do you suggest we do to _save_ our intern, Joey?" Vivian asked with determination. Mai rolled her eyes at her friend's dramatics.

"Well don't tell me we aren't going to do anything?" Vivian pried, raising an eyebrow at her blonde friend. Mai turned to her and glared.

"And what do _you_ think we should do? Even if we knew what was going on in that house, Joey's eighteen. He's old enough to make his own decisions and by city standards – he's an adult. If he chooses to stay in an abusive household, that's on him." She felt cold admitting it, but sometimes the truth wasn't what people wanted to hear.

Vivian sat back in her seat and stared at the ground. Mai noticed her knuckles tightening around her cup of tea.

"Vivian…"

"A childhood friend of mine…she was getting physically abused by her mother and her father…she didn't tell anyone about it until it was too late." Vivian said, still staring at the ground as her body began to shake.

"She committed suicide, Mai. She was only fourteen, but she didn't want to live anymore." She continued.

She looked up at Mai, and the blonde noticed tears had started to run down her eyes.

"So that's why I can't let this kind of thing go! You don't know when someone is two steps from jumping over the edge." Vivian explained, staring at Mai with fresh tears running down her face.

Mai quickly passed the coffee table separating them and grabbed her friend in a tight embrace.

"I'm sorry Viv, I didn't know…" She whispered, holding her friend as she cried softly.

She would _have_ to do something about Joey now.

**xxx**

"Thanks, Vivian, I really appreciate it." Tea said through her cell phone. She hung up the phone and placed it in her pocket.

"Okay, so I have the address, are you ready to go?" She asked her spiky haired friend. Tristan nodded as the two of them headed for his motorcycle.

"Yeah, I'm ready, I was going to call Duke but I can do that once we get back…" He replied, hopping on his motorcycle and passing her a helmet.

"What is up with you and Duke? I'm pretty sure you guys hated each other the majority of high school." Tea asked with a confused look on her face. Tristan blushed and turned to look at the front of his motorcycle.

"Honestly…it's a long story." He said quietly, turning on the motorcycle and twisting the handle bars.

"Well judging by how far Joey's place is, I think you'll have enough time to explain." Tea replied, looking at her watch.

Tristan sighed as his motorcycle came to life and began to move down the road in front of his house.

"Well it all started last year…" He started.

**xxx**

"Who was that?" Mai asked, as she refilled her cup of green tea. She couldn't lie, it was really good.

"It was Tea. She's going with her friend to go see about Joey. I just gave her the address, but I'm surprised she didn't have it already. Don't they go to school together?" Vivian replied, tears gone and eyes focussed on Mai's giant flat screen TV.

"I'm not surprised…" Mai mused, sipping her tea as she watched Vivian flip the channels.

"What do you mean?" Vivian asked, turning to her friend with a raised eyebrow.

"Well when I got there, the place was a mess. The apartment building was old and rusted, and from the little I saw into Joey's apartment, it wasn't a pretty sight."

"Was it that bad?"

"Well I saw garbage bags all over the place, and stains all over the carpet. It was like an abandoned warehouse but with someone actually _living_ there." Mai replied with a sigh. Vivian's eyes widened.

"That sounds terrible, but last time I checked the records it said he was living with someone." She inquired, eyebrows raised. Mai nodded in agreement.

"You're right; I think he's living with his dad. And that's who I think gave him that terrible black eye." Mai explained.

"Well then that would explain why his friends have never been to his house…" Vivian thought aloud.

"We have to…"

"Yeah, yeah I know. We have to help him out." Mai interrupted, smiling at her friend.

_But what can we do? _She thought to herself.

**xxx**

"Around Grade 11, we both kind of got over our crush on Serenity. She's a great girl, but she just couldn't choose between us and I didn't want to wait around forever." Tristan admitted, as the two of them sped down the highway.

"Eventually, I told her I'd just settle for staying as friends. To be honest, I thought Duke would run in and snatch her up. But that didn't happen." He continued.

"I see…" Tea said softly, trailing off so Tristan could continue.

"Duke and I sat down and talked, and he told me the real reason he had fought with me for Serenity was because he really want to be with _me_."

"No way, seriously?" Tea asked in shock.

_How many years had they argued over Serenity? Duke must have been hurting the whole time… _She thought to herself.

"Yeah, I was touched to say the least. I decided to give him a chance. I thought that if this person had wanted to be with me for so long and had done so much to be in my life, I should at least give them that."

"We went on a few dates and here we are today." He finished, looking back at Tea momentarily to smile.

Tea returned the smile and squeezed his arm gently.

"That's so nice. So you guys are dating now? Does anyone else know?"

"Yeah, we're official now. We were trying to keep it secret until the party, but one by one we were telling people. Yugi knew before he left for Egypt, and he congratulated us. I was gonna tell Joey but I haven't heard from him in the last little while, I just thought you guys were busy with that internship." Tristan explained.

"You're right, we have been busy with the internship…but Joey hasn't been contacting any of us." Tea replied.

"By 'us' you mean…?" Tea realized she hadn't told Tristan about Mai and Vivian.

"I mean our mentors at the internship, Mai Valentine and Vivian Wong."

"Oh, I see." Tristan replied.

"Yeah, they have our information on file, so Vivian just gave me his address from there." She explained.

"Well, we can thank her later, we're almost there." Tristan exclaimed, pointing to a far off building in the distance.

**xxx**

**Yay, down with another update! To the reviewer who said there was no chaseshipping…you need to read this chapter. I said from the beginning that it would be EVENTUAL, but clearly some people can't read. Anyways, everyone who likes this story, thank you for the support. I made up the part about Vivian having a friend who was abused because I wanted to make someone relatable to Joey's story. I do need to hurry up with the polarshipping though, stay tuned for that!**

**-GeminiMercedes-**


	9. Too Rough

Interns Chapter 9

"Joey, open up!" Tristan yelled as he banged on the blonde's apartment door for the tenth time.

"Seriously Tristan, I don't think he's here." Tea said with a sigh, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well where _else_ would he be? I mean, he can't be hanging out with Yugi because he's in Egypt."

"Well that's true, but it's not like he_ couldn't_ be with someone else. I just wish he had told us something, we're supposed to be his close friends." Tea replied in defeat.

She watched Tristan's back as the spiky haired teen continued to knock on Joey's apartment door.

"To be honest, I've never been to this part of Domino…" She thought aloud. Tristan stopped beating the door and turned to face her.

"I've only been here once, actually, I was coming with Joey to hang out at his place." He said with a shrug.

Tea's eyes widened.

"Wait, you what? You've been here before? What's his place like?" She asked in shock. Tristan just shook his head.

"I didn't even get to come inside. Joey brought me over and when he was about to open the door, we both heard a voice inside and he told me to go home." Tristan replied, looking to the sky as he remembered what had happened.

"That was only a couple of years ago, but I remember the voice sounded like an older man. His old man, I'm guessing."

"So if you've been here before, how come you didn't know where his place was?"

"I forgot, it's been a couple years since that event. Everything got familiar when we arrived here though."

Tea nodded, and then raised an eyebrow.

"That's weird. I mean, he's never invited me to his place. I wonder why he didn't want you in his house."

"Me neither, but this is going nowhere. I'm going to call Duke." Tristan exclaimed, before pulling his cell phone out of his back pocket.

Tea glared at him and shook her head.

"Is that party of yours really more important than finding one of our best friends?" She asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"Relax; I'm calling to ask if he's seen him." Tristan replied angrily, rolling his eyes before turning back to Joey's front door.

Tea kept quiet as she watched Tristan dial Duke's number on his cell phone and place the device to his ear. She turned to look over the second floor balcony and get a view of the area. She had never been to this part of Domino before, but she was already getting bad feelings about the place.

It didn't have the preppy feel of Domino City, and it almost felt like a wasteland. Deserted convenient stores lined the streets, and almost every building they had passed on the way had been covered in graffiti.

"Yeah, Duke. Have you seen Joey?" Tristan asked as he held his phone to his ear.

"He's at your house? Alright, we'll be right over. Don't worry about where we are. We'll be there soon. I-I'm not trying to worry you! We're on our way. Bye. Yeah, yeah love you too."

Tea couldn't help but giggle as she heard Tristan's side of his conversation with Duke. Tristan hung up and turned back to her.

"Not one word." He said, before walking down the stairs towards his motor cycle.

"Whatever you say..." She replied anyway.

**xxx**

"I hope you're not going to tell me you got that black eye from falling down the stairs. How did you even get over here?" Duke asked, as he sat down across from Joey in his living room, handing him a glass of lemonade.

Joey thanked him for the drink and inwardly cursed his hair for not being long enough to cover up his black eye.

"I walked, it really wasn't that far." He replied, shifting his eyes to his glass of lemonade.

Unfortunately for him, Duke wasn't buying it.

"You're dodging the subject, Joey." The dice master said bluntly, sipping his own glass of lemonade without shifting his eyes off of the blonde teenager.

"I'm not dodging anything…" Joey muttered, unable to meet Duke's unnerving stare.

"Do you stare at Tristan like that? You guys have been hanging out a lot more lately?" Joey asked honestly. Duke's eyes widened and he almost choked on his lemonade.

"W-what? Uh, Joey, don't you know?" Duke asked awkwardly, recovering rather quickly.

"What are you talking about? Know about what?"

But it was at that moment Duke's phone began to vibrate and the dice master rushed over to pick it up.

"Hello? Oh hey Tristan, yeah, Joey's here. Where are you two right now? What do you mean don't worry? You know that basically _makes_ me worried. Okay, see you soon. Love you, bye."

Joey's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Duke turned to him and laughed.

"I was about to tell you, but I couldn't pass on that opportunity to punk you." He admitted.

"So wait, you are Tristan are…"

"Together? Yup, we've been dating for a while now. We just didn't know when the right time was to tell everybody."

For once, Joey was speechless.

"But enough about me, you're going to explain that black eye of yours." Duke said sternly, pointing his phone at Joey's face.

"Listen…" Joey began.

But the two were yet again interrupted by Duke's front door being thrown open rather quickly.

"Hey, save that rough touch for the bedroom alright?" Duke yelled, as an angry Tristan and a worried Tea walked in the front door.

"Shut up for a second Duke." Tristan growled as he walked over to Joey and picked up the blonde by his collar.

"Hey, what gives?" The blonde asked indignantly.

"You had us worried sick, what is wrong with you?!" Tristan bellowed, lifting his other fist up.

"Oh no, you don't. He's already wounded, leave him alone Tristan." Duke explained, running over and pulling Tristan's arm back.

"Yeah, usually I'd let you guys scrap it out but Joey looks like he's already in a lot of pain." Tea added in, walking over to the blonde teen and moving the bangs from his eyes.

"Joey, what the hell happened?" Tristan asked in surprise, releasing his grip and looking closer at the blonde's black eye.

"Well if you weren't roughing me, _maybe_ I would have told you! It's not like all of you guys aren't hiding stuff from me." Joey replied angrily, turning to look at Duke.

"Joey, about that…" Tristan muttered, turning to look at Duke as well.

"Okay guys, maybe we should just sit down and discuss this, no more violence." Tea exclaimed.

"We all just need to calm down."

xxx

"He just gets drunk and then I'm his punching bag…"

"Joey, we have to go to the feds." Tristan exclaimed.

"No, you guys know I can't do that. At the end of the day, he's still my dad." Joey replied sadly.

"But this is getting serious…" Duke replied half heartedly, realizing how stubborn the blonde could be.

They were all sitting, calmly for the most part, in Duke's living room. After a couple of sips of lemonade, everyone had seemed to calm down.

Duke would later admit he had spiked the drinks to keep anyone from getting violent.

"And where would I go if I were to leave? Because I'm gonna have to if I call the police on my dad." Joey added, staring at everyone in the room for half a second before turning back to stare at the floor.

"You could stay here with us; the spare bedroom is clean and hasn't been used before." Duke said with a smile.

"Would you guys really do that for me? I don't want to be an inconvenience." Joey replied, trying his best to graciously reject the idea.

"I think you should do it Joey," Tea added in.

"But if they get too crazy you can always come and stay with me. My place would be a little cramped compared to this place but it would be safe." She continued, reaching over and giving him a half hug.

"I'll think about it, and get back to you guys." Joey replied, sending everyone a small smile.

"Your always welcome Joey, I just wish I had known…" Tristan replied, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Hey pal, it's alright, no one knew. It feels better that I don't have to hide it anymore." Joey said with a smile.

**xxx**

**Another update down! Tell me what you think. **

**-GeminiMercedes-**


	10. Warming Up

Interns Chapter 10

"You've got some nerve trying to come at me like that. I was just trying to diffuse the situation." Duke said bitterly as he washed the dishes in his kitchen.

It had been decided that Joey was going to stay at Tea's for the night and then bring his bags over to Tristan and Duke's over the weekend. It was currently a Thursday.

Tristan turned to his slightly heated boyfriend and sighed exasperatingly.

"I'm sorry; I was just confused and pissed off. I wish he had told us sooner."

"…"

Judging by the lack of response, he could tell his apology wasn't going to do any good.

"You aren't going to hold this against me, are you?" Tristan asked, walking over to Duke, who was still hunching over washing dishes.

When he again, didn't receive a response, the spiky haired teen wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and squeezed him tightly.

"I love you, alright? And I'm truly sorry, I shouldn't have snapped on you. You're right; you were just trying to help." He said affectionately.

"That's better…" Duke teased, wiggling out of Tristan grip to finish the dishes.

"It'll be nice to have Joey here, don't you think?" Duke asked, turning his head to Tristan. The brown haired teen nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I think it will be. But, I guess that means we'll have to be more private huh?" He replied with a wink.

"I'll reserve that to memory," Duke said with a smirk. "I still think he's in shock, by the way."

"I think you're right." Tristan said with a laugh.

xxx

"I heard Joey's coming back to the office today." Vivian said as she passed by Mai's cubicle at work.

The blonde scowled.

_Does she really have to drop bombs on me and then walk off nonchalantly? _

"How do you know?" Mai asked as her co-worker walked back from wherever she had come from.

"Tea called and said he'd be coming with her." Vivian admitted, sitting in her own cubicle and pulling her chair out so they could talk.

"Is he okay to be coming in though? I mean, you should have seen him Viv…"

"Tea said he's been healing fast. The swelling on his eye has gone down a lot and he's feeling a lot better." Vivian explained. Mai sighed in relief.

"That's good to hear. Hopefully he'll be okay to work today. Lots of last minute filing Kaiba sent to our floor." The blonde moaned.

"Aw, are you growing a soft spot for Joey? It's okay Mai; I won't tell anyone you're a cradle-robber." Vivian said with a smirk. Mai's face instantly turned a deep red.

"What did you just say? I'm like three or four years older than him, I could get him if I wanted him. But let's not forget whose corset is _still_ at the dry-cleaners."

"That's only because you keep forgetting to go pick it up."

"You know what Vivian…"

"Hey, guys! Bad time?" The blonde and her co-worker turned to see a smiling Tea and sheepish Joey standing in front of them.

"It's been a while, hey guys." Joey said with a smile. Vivian slapped her forehead and got up from her seat.

"You had us worried sick! At least you look okay…don't push it alright?" Her voice was full of concern.

"Yeah," Mai found herself standing up as well. "If you ever feel like you need a break, just let me know."

Joey seemed surprised at first, but eagerly nodded and smiled. Mai noticed he was still trying to cover his healing eye with his golden blonde bangs.

"I'll be fine; don't worry too much about me." He replied, as if trying to reassure her, but after Mai had seen his home, she wasn't buying anything he was trying to sell her.

And while she was tempted to say so, she bit her tongue, realizing that it wasn't the time or place.

"Well we have a lot to get done today. Tea, you're with me, as always." Vivian said, latching on to Tea and dragging the poor girl into another part of the office.

Mai turned to Joey and offered him a small smile.

"Let's see what work I can get you to do…"

xxx

"So, are you really feeling better?" Mai asked abruptly, as the two blondes sorted out files in one of the private work rooms on her floor.

Joey turned to her with a look of confusion before going back to sorting files.

"I'm feeling alright, didn't think you'd care though." He admitted. Mai felt her heart drop.

Had she really come off that mean and merciless? Sure, she hadn't wanted to work with the interns,_ especially_ Joey, but now that she knew more about him, she found herself feeling sympathy towards the blonde teenager.

"I'm sorry for how I came off before. I'm not really a people person." She admitted, swallowing hard.

Joey snickered, and smiled at her.

"You could've fooled me." He said. Mai rolled her eyes. She could tell that that was his way of saying he forgave her.

"My offer still stands you know if you want to take a break or go home early…" Joey waved a hand in her direction and kept working.

She took that as him passing on her offer, and she turned back to her own work.

"I'm going to be moving out my place soon, so it won't take as long for me to get here." Joey stated, continuing to work without looking up.

Mai's eyes widened. _He's going to move out of that crappy place he was in? Good for him._

"Mind if I ask where?" She replied, turning to him. _Maybe I'm pushing it._ She thought to herself.

"A friend's place, it's closer to downtown." He replied, looking up at her questioningly.

"Closer to downtown Domino? Maybe we can carpool, I live in a condo close to here." She was surprised that she had offered him _that_, but it was the least she could do to make up for her bad attitude before.

Joey's eyes widened.

"I wouldn't want to be a burden or anything; you don't have to do that." He stuttered. Mai shook her head.

"Oh please, the amount of times I have to go pick Vivian up because something is wrong with _her_ car…its fine. Actually, I think it's a good idea." She said with a genuine smile.

Joey slowly nodded, and Mai could have sworn she saw a blush appear on his cheeks.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it." He said softly. Mai felt like giggling at his bashfulness, but she didn't.

"No problem, kid. Just leave a message on my work phone with your address and I'll come get you starting Monday. You have my number, remember? Vivian passed it on."

Joey nodded, and got up from his seat.

"Thanks again, Miss-"

"Call me, Mai." She interrupted, placing a hand on her hip.

"Okay, Mai. Thank you again, oh and I'm done the files." He said with a smile.

They stood there staring at each other for half a minute before Mai turned away and headed for the door.

"W-well, if you're done with that then I'll go find you something else to do before lunch."

She didn't even wait for a reply before walking out.

She wouldn't admit it to Vivian, but Joey was actually a good looking guy.

xxx

**It feels great to finally be at a point where there will be some polarshipping. I think this story is almost done, two more chapters, tops. Hope you guys enjoyed!**

**-GeminiMercedes-**


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